Sage 100cloud

Sage 100 and Sage 100cloud news and technical articles of note.

Blackberry Storm demo model arrives in Verizon store

September 30, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

The Blackberry Storm seems on the fast track to your local Verizon store. An eagle eyed member of the Crackberry.com Blackberry discussion forum snapped photos of this display model at their local Verizon Wireless store.

As the first keyboardless Blackberry, the Storm has been widely anticipated by enthusiasts.

There have been far fewer leaks of this device than all previous Blackberry models. The keyboard is all touch with rumors that you can actually press on the screen and get feedback (aka – haptic). If the touch screen is widely adopted it could herald a whole generation of keyboardless berry’s.

This model Blackberry is expected to be exclusive to Verizon Wireless for an indefinite period of time. Some early rumors have the phone on an indefinite exclusivity period subject to minimum sales numbers.

The launch of both the Blackberry Bold and Blackberry Storm will also usher in the next release of the Blackberry Operating System 4.5 (or higher) whose most eagerly anticipated feature may be the inclusion of HTML email reading capabilities on all Blackberry’s. Unlike the iPhone, using HTML email on the Blackberry is dependent upon an outside service called BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) or BIS (Blackberry Internet Service) which is a mandatory subscription that pushes email and web browsing to all Blackberry users.

via: Crackberry

Blackberry Bold on tap for November 2 release

September 30, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

The good folks at Research in Motion has begun distributing invitations to launch parties which will start on October 15 and culminate in New York City on October 30. These parties are in advance of the long awaited arrival of the Blackberry Bold from RIM.

The new Blackberry Bold will first appear on AT&T where it becomes the first 3G Blackberry to be offered on the carrier. Early reviews of this device have gushed over the much improved screen. Other than the sharper screen resolution, most of the core Blackberry Operating System seems largely unchanged.

There are a few tweaks to the operating system – such as the addition of HTML email capabilities (finally) however the jury seems to still be out on the improvements that have been made to the web browser. Since the iPhone launch the bar has been permanently raised for all smartphones.

via: Crackberry.com

MAS90’s Hidden Weapon: Extended Solutions

September 29, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

Many users of accounting software secretly (and often not so secretly) wish that their programs could be customized so that they more tightly fit the needs of their business. Unfortunately custom programming often proves to be both expensive and time consuming.

Not anymore.

With Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 there is a large catalog of customizations that have already been written and can be purchased for a fixed fee.

Examples of Extended Solutions include Multi-Company processing for General Ledger and Accounts Payable. With this enhancement you can have one master company processing accounts payable invoices and checks for dozens of subsidiaries. The entire due-to and due-from process is managed by the enhancement (See AP-1027 – Multiple Company Accounts Payable which provides just this functionality for only $1,795 + $265 Maintenance).

What’s so powerful about these Extended Solutions is that not only do they save you the initial development time (and money) – but as the Sage MAS 90 and MAS 200 programs are upgraded you receive the enhancements at your current level for no extra charge.

Selecting and searching for an Extended Solution for Sage MAS90 and MAS200 is easy. Simply log into the Extended Solution Site and search for your desired functionality. Once located, you’ll see a screen with the cost, description and a link to the full product manual.

Tip: Not everyone knows this, but all of the Extended Solutions may be requested as a free trial. They will ship you the solution so that it only operates on the dummy data company code and with certain other restrictions. This gives you a chance to “try before you buy” – something not available with most other custom programming.

If you have more questions about whether an Extended Solution might be right for your business, ask yourself these questions:

Will I save time by having the feature (and if so how much)
Are there alternate procedures that I could perform that would eliminate the need for this enhancement
How many enhancements am I looking to purchase (Rule of thumb: Under 6 is probably ideal with most companies using only one or two).
Am I willing to wait an extra month or two after the main MAS 90 or MAS 200 program has been updated for my ehancements to be ready (This is the typical wait time).
Will I be using third party vertical solutions like Job Ops or ACS Service Managemenet which may conflict with Extended Solutions?

In general we strongly recommend the use of Extended Solutions to our clients. When a pre-written customization is required it is our favored solution based on the sheer numbers of enhancements available as well as the positive feedback we receive from our clients.

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Sage 100c accounting software pricing – everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask

September 19, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

If you’ve searched enough on the Internet you likely have found lots and lots of information on MAS90 and MAS200 accounting software prices. Unfortunately not all pricing is created equal.

When you negotiate a bargain – have you really gotten a good value – or is it just the start of a long (expensive) series of challenges.

I’ve been consulting on Sage MAS90 and MAS200 since 1986. I started with Cole, Frago, Cusick Chestler & Company as a CPA staff accountant. Gradually I progressed to becoming the person in charge of overseeing the computer consulting department.

After several years with Cole, Frago I moved on to Kostin, Ruffkess & Company (Connecticut’s second largest CPA firm with well over 100 professionals) and ran their technology department.

In both situations I had one guiding principle to follow when making a software recommendation to an accounting client….

Don’t recommend the wrong software so that the accounting client becomes upset and leaves for another CPA firm.

Unfortunately most of the online sources for cheap MAS90 or MAS200 don’t have that guiding principle in mind when they provide a lowball quote (and the quotes are lowball because they’ll often fail to mention labor or the pros and cons of the solution they are quoting).

I’m not going to make this into a long boring lecture – so here’s my consolidated Schulz Tips for purchasing MAS90:

#1 – The Happiest Day is When You Pay To Buy Any Accounting Software
I tell everyone that it’s often downhill after the contract is signed and the software is ordered. Here are the big “danger signals” that you may be headed for a downhill experience with your software purchase.

We’ll install that in phase # (pick a number) – aka “we’ve never done this and hopefully by the time we get to that phase we’ll figure it out”

Yes our program integrates with your accounting program – Beware of the term integration. It means different things depending upon who you are.

For someone trying to sell you a system – integration means their software will export a really ugly file that you spend hours (each month) manually fixing in order to prepare it for a (time consuming) subsequent import.

For someone BUYING a system – the words integration conjure up images of one button push and ALL the data is seamlessly transferred.

Sadly, the true integration capabilities are somewhere in the middle. Unless you know the questions to ask – you could be heading for a disaster after your software is purchased and being readied for installation.

Schulz Consulting is a Sage MAS90 and MAS200 consulting firm located in Glastonbury CT. We’ve been consulting on MAS90 and MAS200 since early 1986, Our clients are located all across the United States as well as locally.

We are happy to discuss any issues or concerns with you about your accounting software.

The fastest way to reach us is email.

You can also call Wayne Schulz 860-657-8544

Setting up Sage Payment Services with MAS90 or MAS200

September 16, 2008 by Wayne Schulz

Are you an existing user of Sage MAS 90 or 200 (Versions 4.2+) looking to setup Sage Payment Services on your system?

If so, here are my notes based on a recent setup for a client who was not using any credit card processing prior to adding Sage Payments.

Note: If you are a current PC Charge user – you may be eligible for a free upgrade to the Sage Payment server which is fully compatible only with Sage Payment Services ( Update: works only with the Sage Payment Services).

Condensed Installation Notes:

1. Re-enter new unlock keys to MAS 90 or MAS 200
(This has to be done so you can enable Sage Payment Service)

2. Client receives email verification of their new credit card account – this is where Merchant ID and Mkey are located – no separate paperwork is sent to the client except Visa/MC stickers

3. Turn on Sage credit card processing in MAS90 or MAS200 – Tab #3 – Server Maintenance under Company Maintenance

– Also enable credit card processing for cash receipts (if desired) in Accounts Receivable Options

4. Download the PocketSoap program and install to workstation – www.pocketsoap.com/pocketsoap/#dl

5. Setup the payment types in AR – Setup – Payment Type Maintenance

– Unlike PC Charge – the merchant # doesn’t self populate – key the Sage TERMINAL ID NUMBER in manually (from client welcome email) – IMPORTANT: To set up with Sage Payments USE THE TERMINAL ID # for all credit cards — and NOT the merchant ID as the field is labelled.

– Need the 12 digit Merchant Key (MKEY) number from the client’s welcome email
– Once you save this and then re-open payment type the “valid processor” in lower right should be checked

I did not have to re-load any software to the server (only load pocket soap [download here for free] to each workstation processing credit cards).

The above is only a summary of the instructions which is meant for those with some familiarity with MAS90 and MAS200 credit card processing. Please note that versions 4.2 and higher support the use of Sage Payment Server embedded within the software (no separate download) – so different steps may be needed for older MAS90 or MAS200 versions.

A more complete list of instructions is in the support area of Sagesoftwareonline as a pdf or download from here.

Summary

I strongly recommend this solution for ease of setup. It was a little nerve wracking – but I did it all remotely in under an hour — including testing and walking through the terminal program.

Brett Zimmerman has a great set of suggestions as well (copied below):

(Courtesy Brett Zimmerman at The Fitzgerald Group) :

* If you would like to enable auto-settling, go to the Help menu in VT (Virtual Terminal) > Tech Support, and send a message requesting that auto-settling be enabled for whatever time you’d like. Apparently this request will first go thru Underwriting for approval since auto-settling won’t be allowed for certain businesses.

* By default, for every credit card charge processed, an e-mail will be sent to the e-mail address on file. To disable this function, go to the Configuration menu in VT > E-mail Notices > General Settings.

* Although you can set VT to automatically e-mail a .csv file (raw data) for each settled batch, it’d be great if it could e-mail a nicely formatted report of the settled batches – similar to what you can view inside VT.

* Supposedly with 4.3, the PocketSOAP software won’t have to be installed on the MAS 90 workstations. (Update: You still must manually download PocketSoap)

* MyVirtualReports: It appears this is for Account Management of your SPS account.

Additional tips for Credit Card integration to MAS90 or MAS200 Bank Reconciliation:

If you apply credit cards via cash receipts you’ll notice that each individual credit card transaction goes to the bank reconciliation.

Normally the bank will clear your credit card transactions in groups.

To properly reflect this on the bank reconciliation you can setup a separate bank code (use a clearing account GL that is on the balance sheet) to hold the individual credit card charges.

When the card charges clear the bank – go into cash receipts and receive the total amount cleared into your live account and take the amounts out of the clearing account.

If you have any other questions – please call the office or use the email contact form below and we’ll be happy to explain this in more detail. We can also provide you with contact information for Sage Payment Services so you can speak with them directly.

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